Mathew Horne Biography

Mathew Frazer Horne (born 6 September 1978) is an English actor, comedian, television presenter, and narrator. He is best known for appearing on several BBC sketch shows and sitcoms, most notably Gavin & Stacey (as Gavin Shipman), The Catherine Tate Show, 20 Things to do Before You're 30, Teachers, Horne and Corden, and Bad Education.

Early life

Horne was born on 6 September 1978 in Nottingham, the son of Brian Horne and Glenis Reynolds. He grew up in Burton Joyce, Nottinghamshire. Horne has an elder brother, Daniel. He attended Burton Joyce Primary School. He studied A level performing arts at Southwell Minster School in Nottinghamshire, and has a degree in drama from the University of Manchester. Here, Horne met Bruce Mackinnon in the first few weeks of term; they realised that they shared a similar sense of humour, but did not write material together until the third year of their studies.

Career

Horne began his career as a comedian and later became one half of the comedy duo Mat and MacKinnon - first performing at the Edinburgh Festival in 2000. He was spotted at the festival by Catherine Tate who invited him to perform in The Catherine Tate Show. Since then Horne has continued to appear in several Catherine Tates Nan specials. He reprised his role as Jamie in two festive episodes of Catherine Tates Nan in 2015.

In 2003, he starred in Channel 4's 20 Things to do Before You're 30 and a year later earned the role of Ben, an atheist RE teacher, in the Channel 4 series Teachers.

He also appeared in the first series of ITV production Doc Martin. In 2005, Horne appeared in an episode of The Smoking Room, playing Dominic the nephew of Janet who was conducting a psychological study of the employees.

In 2007 he starred in the BBC sitcom Roman's Empire and in November that year appeared in comedy sketches in The Kylie Show on ITV1 alongside Kylie Minogue, playing her assistant. Horne was also a guest star in the second series of Robin Hood.

From 2007 to 2010 he starred in the double BAFTA winning series Gavin & Stacey as main character Gavin Shipman, a kind-hearted young man who meets up with a girl he meets through their work phone calls and falls in love with her. The programme ran for three series with a Christmas special and received widespread critical acclaim.

In 2008, Horne appeared in a modern adaptation of the Three Billy Goats Gruff as part of the BBC's Fairy Tales season. He also narrated the ITV2 series The Passions of Girls Aloud.

Horne starred in the film Lesbian Vampire Killers alongside James Corden and made his stage debut in a 2009 revival of Entertaining Mr Sloane at the Trafalgar Studios. On 3 April 2009 it was reported that Horne collapsed on-stage during a West End performance of the play. He remained on-stage until medical assistance arrived, at which point he was taken to hospital. A statement released soon after said that he was exhausted after working 'flat out' for 3 months and it was later revealed that he was suffering from a virus.

Horne also guest-starred in the video for the Maccabees' 2009 free-download single "No Kind Words"

On 18 February 2009, he presented the 2009 BRIT Awards alongside James Corden and Kylie Minogue.

In 2010, he appeared in an episode of Miss Marple, named "The Secret of Chimneys", as Bill Eversleigh. Horne appeared alongside fellow Gavin & Stacey star Ruth Jones.

He played the Culture Club drummer, Jon Moss, in the 2010 BBC docudrama about the teenage years of Boy George, Worried About the Boy.

In 2016 he toured British theatres with Catherine Tate in The Catherine Tate Show Live.

Work with James Corden

Since working on the BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey, he has collaborated a number of times with its co-creator James Corden

Horne and Corden presented the Big Brother spin-off show Big Brother's Big Mouth as guests in 2007 and were then regulars for the run covering E4's Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack

Together they presented the NME Shockwaves Awards in 2008 and a section of Comic Relief in March 2009.

In 2008 Horne and Corden toured the UK with a stand-up show in preparation for their BBC sketch show Horne & Corden. The first episode was broadcast on show of 10 March 2009 on BBC Three. It was presented in front of a live audience, in a style reminiscent of Morecambe and Wise or The Two Ronnies. A variety of pre-filmed sketches and live performances were included.

2009 also saw the release of Lesbian Vampire Killers, a comedy horror film. Reviews of the film were largely negative. It holds a 29% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 4/10. James Christopher of The Times described it as "profoundly awful", stating that it is an "instantly forgettable lads' mag farce" and an "appalling waste of a perfectly decent title". Allan Hunter of the Daily Express called it "badly written and hastily executed" and "takes all the easy options of bad taste, bosoms and body fluids". Anthony Quin writing in The Independent gave the film 1 star out of 5, describing it as woeful and stating that Horne and Corden had "overstretched their appeal" and looked in danger of becoming today's Hale and Pace. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described the film as "mostly pretty awful, but there are one or two crass laughs".

The Sun, however, gave it a positive review; Sun reviewer the Sneak gave Lesbian Vampire Killers a rating of 3 out of 5, saying that "other reviewers will undoubtedly say that LVK is another British comic flop but the Sneak won't be driving that stake into its heart". Similarly, Nicholas Yanes of Scifipulse.net found it to be "a great B film" worth becoming a cult classic. Whilst on the comedy panel show The King is Dead in September 2010, Corden commented that watching the film would be too harsh a punishment for prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay and that it was "a pile of shit".

Horne appeared alongside Corden in the CGI film Planet 51, with a minor part voicing a soldier, Vesklin.

Personal life

Horne is a fan of Tottenham Hotspur FC, and is often seen at White Hart Lane.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role
2001	Noble and Silver: Get Off Me!	Housemate
2002	Being April	Whiffy
2004-2007	The Catherine Tate Show	Various Characters
2004	Teachers	Ben Birkett
2004	The Smoking Room	Dominic
2004	Doc Martin	Ed Johnson
2005	Carrie & Barry	Adrian
2005	Our Hidden Lives	Davy
2005	Nathan Barley	Shop Assistant
2005	Blessed	Matt
2006	Losing It	Mike
2007	Roman's Empire	Leo
2007-2010	Gavin & Stacey	Gavin Shipman
2007	The Kylie Show	Paul
2007	Robin Hood	The Fool
2007	Big Brother's Big Mouth	Guest Presenter
2008	Big Brother:Celebrity Hijack	Presenter
2008	Fairy Tales	Dean Gruff
2009	Horne & Corden	Various Characters
2009	Phineas and Ferb	Blay'n
2010	Worried About the Boy	Jon Moss
2010	Miss Marple	Bill Eversleigh
2010	Chekhov Comedy Shorts	Lomov
2011	Sounds from the Cities	Himself
2012	Sinbad	Philippe
2012-2014	Bad Education	Shaquille Fraser
2013	Death in Paradise	Leo Downs
2013	Playhouse Presents	Johnny
2014-	Agatha Raisin	Roy Silver
2014-2015	Catherine Tate's Nan	Jamie Taylor
2015-2016	Drunk History	Various Characters
2016	Are You Being Served?	Young Mr Grace
2016	Dating in the Dark	Himself/Narrator

Film

Year	Title	Role
2004	Vanity Fair	Casino Boy
2005	A.W (Short Film)	Teen
2006	Stingray (Short Film)	Kurt
2008	Trimming the Fat (Short Film)	Sutcliffe
2009	Planet 51	Solider Vesklin
2009	Lesbian Vampire Killers	Jimmy
2011	Horrid Henry: The Movie	Dad
2014	Breaking the Bank	Nick
2015	The Bad Education Movie	Shaquille Fraser

Recognition and awards

Horne was nominated for Best Male Comedy Newcomer at the 2007 British Comedy Awards.